Georgia on my mind...

Last weekend I got it into my head to take a nice leisurely drive into Georgia...yup I had Georgia on my mind. :D But first I had a few stops to make...

First, to my favorite street in town...Coffee Street and home to my favorite coffee shop (so far) in Greenville, Coffee Underground.

Next it was off to my favorite restaurant I've found (so far) Tommy's Ham House. It may not look like much...but boy can they make a breakfast right! Plus you can't see the biscuits...because I may or may not have already eaten them. :D

Then it was down into Georgia with my ipod full of ridiculously idealistic and romanticized songs about Georgia.

My destination was the Stone Mountain Park, apparently it is Georgia's number one tourist attraction.

Originally the park was built as a memorial for those who died in the Civil War. The carving etched into the side of the mountain depicts from left to right President Davis, General Lee and General Jackson. It stands as the highest relief sculpture in the world, bigger then Mt. Rushmore which took me by surprise.

Around the base of the mountain an entertainment and attraction village as grown up. My favorite was the glass blowing demonstration.

Around the base of the sculpture is a memorial yard with a flag and a brief history of each of the states that seceded from the union as well as quotes from all the generals lining the pathways.

The most interesting part of the park for me was the museum which had three videos and various artifacts. In one of the display cases was the artifacts of a soldier who had died in battle, including the contents of his pockets. In one of his pockets was branch from a tree from a Revolutionary War Battlefield. He wrote in a letter to his wife that he had collected it a souvenir. It struck me as ironic that he had wanted to preserve a piece of history and now had wound up in a musuem of his own, for it was his widow that spearheaded the effort to build Stone Mountain.

I decided to end the day proper, by eating BBQ, yup I had a rough day! :D

I lift my eyes up...

Hello friends,

My blog has been quiet lately as I have been working to adjust to being far away from my family and my familiar settings. But I have been blessed with my adjustment in that the family I am working for has been supportive and welcoming. Plus I am being kept my toes and loving it! :D

And now off to my adventure in Cherokee, North Carolina!

What can I say...it was windy! : D

My first destination was the Oconaluftee Cherokee Indian village, a village that has been set up to teach the history, political and social structures and daily life of the Cherokee in the 18th century and is now part of the Eastern Cherokee Reservation.

We were led on a tour through living demonstrations of weaving,

carving

and weapon making

My favorite demonstration was the learning how they created canoes. First they fall a tree, trim the branches then build a fire and let it burn out the center of the tree, creating a hallow. They made the process look easy.

Here are a few things I learned:,

First, I had a chance to talk to the director of the village, John, and we engaged in a conversation about the tribe’s difficultly teaching their native language to the younger generations. In response to there only being 250 fluent speakers in their tribe, they have reintroduced Cherokee as a subject in school and offers boarding school for full Cherokee language immersion.This gentleman who talked about the history of the Cherokee, is one of the fluent speakers and it was enlightening to hear their native language firsthand.

Second,I had a very interesting conversation regarding religion with another Cherokee, he conveyed to me that the Cherokee don't worship mother nature, but rather were worshiping a Great Father and Creator, long before the Europeans came. I had no idea that the Bible has been translated into Cherokee.I was intrigued to hear their prospective on religion and was surprised to see the subject pop up again later in the evening.

I wandered around the rest of the village for a few more hours going through a sweat lodge,

the council house, learning about their political system and examining the chief's clothes

and houses from different periods: 16th century:

18th century:

and 19th century:

On a random note, the hickory they burn in the fireplaces smells amazing!

I was very excited to end the day by going to an outdoor Cherokee Drama called, "Unto these Hills." Put on by the Historical Cherokee Association. The play, in an outdoor theater, portrays the Cherokee hero, Tsali and his struggle to keep the land of his people. It was very interesting to watch the history being acted out on the same land that had been the centerpiece of the drama and portrayed by ancestors of the main characters.

I was also intrigued by the involvement of Christianity, the Scriptures and hymns in the play.

Overall the Eastern Band of Cherokee are very proud of the fact that they never walked the Trail of Tears, and through great persistence and resistance they were eventually given some of their ancestral Smokey Mountain land back. At the top of the stadium is an eternal memorial flame that was lit by the Cherokee council fire in Oklahoma that has been burning since 1838 and was presented to the Eastern Band of Cherokee in memory of those who struggled and died in order to preserve their land. At the very bottom of the memorial is this scripture verse: "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalms 121:1-2

This weekend I have a whole slew of places to visit in the Greenville area…covered bridges, civil war museums, homemade ice cream and revolutionary battlefields….it will be a trip through history!

Charleston Day Two: Starting the Day off Right...

Day Two in Charleston I was up at another ungodly hour to do something I had never done before: watch the sun rise over the ocean. It was beautiful, but I think I am partial to watching the sun go down over the ocean, what can I say, I like watching the ocean swallow the sun. lol.

It was wicked early so I walked around downtown Charleston, on a very sleepy Sunday morning, drinking my coffee. Then the Sunday church bells began to ring across the city and it was perfect!:D

Next I visited some random historical sites:

The Old Slave Market, has a fascinating and sobering museum.

This is the park at the point of Charleston looking out towards Fort Sumter. Seeing how close the little island and fort is to Charleston, justifies the stories of citizens watching the bombardment of the fort, while having picnics at the park.

Then it was off to Fort Sumter.

All sizes of historical cannons...they believe that the little one is the kind of cannon that fired the first shot of the Civil War.

The fort used to be almost three times taller, however after days of bombardment the damage is forever preserved.

Cannons stand at attention in a 3/4 moon shape around the fort's outer wall..

The flags that fly atop the museum in the middle of the fort represent every kind of flag that has flown over the fort, in its long and sordid history.

Being there on the fort and see how close Charleston is, combined with the history of its people, made me understand exactly why it was in Charleston that the war started. Its sad, creepy and fascinating.

Charleston Day One: History! History! History! Alligators? What???

This last weekend was my very first real Southern adventure…destination: Charleston, South Carolina. And it was a terrific start! Everywhere I looked, every bench I sat on…was historic as Charleston is one of the most preserved cities in America. It was heavenly!

I woke early, and I mean ungodly early, in order to get to Charleston by 9am on Saturday morning. I had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee, a life-saving action, and race to the Visitors Center to board the bus for the historic tour. Initially I was unsure about taking a history tour, but I AM so glad that I did, it was the most efficient, educational and entertaining way to learn the history of the centuries old city.

There were many historic people, important to both the Revolutionary War and Civil War, who lived here and it was fun to see their houses and picture there lives. It was also interesting to learn about Charleston architecture, as the city presents a very distinct style of houses.

Apparently, there are two traditional styles, the Charleston single and the Charleston double. The Charleston Single mean that the house is one room wide on each side of the door, with the hallway going right down the middle.

Similarly, the Charleston Double means that it is two rooms on either side of the door.

All houses must have a porch facing either the South or the West. Interesting the main door to the house is the door that encloses the porch and not the door that opens to the house. Basically, the porch is the front room.

Apparently, this style, with the side of the house facing the street, rather then the front was in response to the tax that the English put on the colonist for their houses that was determined by the width of the house facing the street. Hope that makes sense.

After the morning spent in Charleston, we headed up-river to tour. As General Sherman burned his way north, very few of the original plantation houses from the antebellum era are still in existence. However the grounds, outer buildings and slave quarters have all been loving restored and maintained so it was very easy imagine life from years ago.

Instead of boring you with endless facts here are the top four things I learned about Magnolia Plantation.

1) The plantation was originally given to a young couple as a wedding present, 300 years ago. It is still owned by the same family.

2.) The gorgeous antebellum house was burned by Sherman’s troops. The current house was the hunting lodge, moved brick by brick from North Carolina.

3) The main crop was rice, not cotton.

5) They have alligators. Everywhere. Clearly this blog is exposing all my ignorance, because I had no idea that alligators could be found this far North. Just in case anyone else missed this important fact and plan on camping in South Carolina let me share with you: the Carolinas are home to: copperhead snakes, horrid nasty spiders, chiggers and alligators, they also have stupendous fireflies, but I digress. The plantation’s water sources are connect the river to the marshes so the alligators (herds? Do alligators live in herds?) just live in the backyard, as normal as cats, ‘cept the keepers only name them if they get over six feet. Sweet eh? I was not fast enough to get good pictures...I swear they are in the pictures...but they blend well in their lairs....I mean habitats.

After a long day of history and an early morning, I was ready for a true Southern meal and bed. I found the perfect meal at Jestine’s Kitchen. Pecan-crusted chicken, fried okra and homemade macaroni and cheese, sweet tea….it was heaven! Remember jealously is a sin :D